There are two hidden gems on Cartoon Network’s regular, non-Adult Swim lineup: Regular Show and Adventure Time with Finn and Jake.
Upon first glimpse, they seem like the usual high-action, attention deficit comedy that has been born from the soggy corpse of SpongeBob SquarePants. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But both these shows seem to operate on a level above that of the usual SpongeBob clones. I guess the best comparison of both these shows would be something like Dexter’s Lab or Powderpuff Girls.
For example, Adventure Time is about a boy and his dog. However, the dialogue and dry humor give it the feel of an Adult Swim younger brother. But for the cherry on top, the whole show takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where characters refer to the “Mushroom War.”
Adventure Time makes jokes about nuclear war
As for Regular Show, if the lines were read by human actors, it would be one of College Humor’s funnier shows, or perhaps a very popular YouTube channel. But despite the fact that the show is extremely well written and largely devoid of the silliness that appeals to kids (and instead filled with the silliness that appeals to 20-somethings) the show is on Cartoon Network and aimed towards the younger set. Which is why I was surprised to find what I suspect is a hidden pot joke in the most recent episode, “Do Me a Solid” (ep #30).
In that episode, Rigby the raccoon gets his friend Mordecai the blue jay to do him ten solids in exchange for the one solid of going with him on a double date. However, Mordecai refuses to do the final solid, resulting in their house nearly being torn asunder by the power of the unfulfilled solid in a scene highly reminiscent of the penultimate scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
To stop them all from dying, Mordecai performs an apparently extremely embarrassing act that is kept off screen the whole time. You never really learn what it is, only compounding the humor. The writers know there is nothing they could do that would live up to expectations, so they simply do not show it. However, Rigby records the Mordecai’s mystery act, and then he and their various amigos watch it on a VCR. I could not help but notice the time on the humorously cliche VCR clock.
Notice the time, dude
Maybe this was just a coincidence.
Now, maybe the time was just a coincidence. After all, 4:20 pm is an actual time that normally occurs once per day, and for most people that doesn’t necessarily mean drugs.
However, as the show cuts back to the VCR, the time is suddenly different. Rather than 4:20 pm, it is 9:25 pm.
It suddenly jumped 5 hours and 5 minutes into the future!
Or maybe the VCR is just broken and randomly changes time?
Now, I’ll just pass this off as a normal discontinuity in a children’s cartoon show. I mean, what, are we to believe that this is some sort of a magic VCR or something?
However, in the next cutback to the VCR, the time is at 4:20 pm again. Furthermore, it is apparent that the 4:20 pm time was pasted over the original animation for the rest of the scene!
Clocks don't work like that!
So did they just add the 4:20 pm after the fact?
Why would they paste the time like that?
As this scene indicates, the 4:20 pm time was pasted over the original animation. But why would they do that? Perhaps the Korean animators messed up?
Or maybe they originally made the time 9:25 pm, only to be later corrected that it would be preposterous for Mordecai to announce that he was going to the arcade that late at night, and so the show’s creators pasted the arcade-appropriate 4:20 pm time at the last minute, but didn’t quite get every scene.
Or maybe the show just snuck in a pot joke.
But nah, that’s preposterous. Why would a show about two 23-year-olds who work lame jobs, have girl problems, love to play at the arcade, and have a friend named “High-Five Ghost” have any relation to marijuana whatsoever?
Now, you may dismiss this whole thing as an “Area Stoner Convinced Everyone On TV Also Stoned” sort of situation. After all, it is not as if Regular Show creator J.G. Quintel once made an animated short about two guys who talk about pot and acid, and then hallucinate while on acid, seeing themselves as characters who would later star in Regular Show.
Oh wait he totally did that.
Quintel’s “2 in the AM PM” featured mockups of a giant blue jay and a talking gumball machine, who would later become Mordecai and Benson in Regular Show.
I guess Mordecai was originally an acid-induced hallucination
Apparently, Benson was also originally an acid-included hallucination
Given Quintel’s artistic history, this little momentary 4:20 seems like it may be more than a simple mistake. Is Quintel throwing his own shout-outs into what otherwise is a kids’ show? Maybe Regular Show really does belong on Adult Swim. As the commercials say, “Regular Show: It is anything but.”
But secret pot jokes? Come on. I’m sure that Cartoon Network’s standards and practices would have caught this. I’ll just conclude the whole thing was a big animation mistake. Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder!
The middle one is me writing this blog entry.
Okay, clearly I should be watching this show. “2 in the AM PM” was pretty spot-on.
I disagree with the ethics of pointing out illicit jokes in childrens’ programming, though. Don’t want to get the guy in trouble!
If inappropriate jokes in children shows gets the creators fired, then John K. would have been fired from Ren and Stimpy on the first day.
Rather than… you know… a few days after that.
Maybe its possible that the characters are really Humans. And during the whole show they are tripping on Acid or are high and they just see everyone as animals/ghosts etc. That might be a reallllllly really farfetched subliminal part of the show. but it would make sense since in the artist’s earlier shows, they were only animals and inanimate objects when on drugs. So before every episode of Regular show, They do drugs off the camera, then the show starts and we see what goes on from there.
Haha, I like it
I just realized more evidence to support my theory is also within the clock being stuck at 4:20. it clicked in my head that the clock is an unconscious metaphor induced by their drugs to let them know that they are still under the influence.
Well, I have been watching Regular Show since earlier this year. And I personaly think that a joke like that shouldnt get anyone fired. If thats the kind of humor J. G Quintle wants, then what can we do about it? I mean, a pot joke? Its not that bad. And by the way has anyone noticed what the rating is. Parentle Guidence is suggested. And if the parents cuaght it, they can stop the child from watching the show. Kids are probably not going to know what the time is any way. Stop comparring things to Quintle’s 2 in the AM PM. It was an older short and the charecters might have been Mordicai and Benson, but that was the past, and their personalities have changed dramatically. Its no worse than what kids hear today any way. Luagh. Even if Quintle did do that on purpose, it was just joke. Regular Show has had a lot of slip ups, but is still a show even I can get a luagh out of.
Let us all luagh.
Err, we’re discussing a talking blue jay, a talking racoon, a talking gum-ball machine, a green, fat kid who says ‘my mom’ in reference to anything at all, a ghost with a hand coming out of his head, a big foot type thing voiced by Luke Skywalker and a freaky weird bobble headed British chap whose currency is lollipops….
Now even though this is on kids TV, I am 35 and have 2 young daughters who LOVE this show, (I must say, I do too, and, as such I watch it on You Tube when I have a few moments to myself) It is sooo blatantly referencing ones experiences when doing acid or ‘shrooms, and, in a minor way, smoking pot! But definitely it is acid references, time shifts, hallucinations like going to the moon, video games coming to life, getting dizzy and finding ones self in a weird dimension, now I can only say I used to do a lot of LSD as a youngster and I always had the best times and some crazy fun laughs!
I couldn’t tell you how many times I went to the moon, watching the ground come to life, light trails, stars looking like they’re all shooting ones, and thinking and seeing all sorts of amazing madness, such a blast!
The Regular Show is all about that folks, I reckon no one should be fired, in fact if you’re gonna do a kids show that you can get the parents in to as well, then get your writers tripping their tits off and encourage that kind of shenanigan, it’s obvious these guys are intelligent, artistic and out to have a good laugh and lark around like they’re still out there! Go as far back as the late 70′s and early 80′s, Magic roundabout, Will o’ the wisp, are to name a couple of British cartoons that clearly had their writers and animators in an altered state!
I say that The Regular Show is the best cartoon I’ve seen since I was a little lad, they should keep up the good work!!!
It is definitely a fantastic show.
Best show Ive seen in years, fantastic is an indersatement… It Blows the simpsons, American dad and the Cleveland show outta the water.
Lol skips is a gorilla where do you get “foot type thing”?
Skips is a ‘Big Foot’ he is also a Yeti Sean, I’m sure there are many other pseudonyms for what he is, but a Gorilla, he most certainly is not. Check out the Wikipedia page amigo!
MAYBE THEY AREN’T HALLUCINATIONS MAYBE ITS CALLED FICTION GENRE LOOK IT UP!!!
You seem somewhat incensed by other people’s opinion RSGD, you spelt the word, ‘biased’, incorrectly as, ‘byest’, too in your haste and apparent rage and you also seem unable to comprehend punctuation.
You obviously have a very limited understanding as to the discussion here, and, when there is reference clearly made to the hallucinations caused by LSD in, “2 in the AM PM” and those subsequent hallucinations become two of the mainstay characters in Regular Show, then one can safely deduce that the characters were indeed inspired by such hallucinogenic experiences of the creator(s).
FYI, Fiction Genre is not really the topic of discussion here and its relevance is somewhat unnecessary to be involved, you need to re-read the point of the actual topic raised.
There is another 4:20 reference in S02 E02 “Its Time” at the 9:09 mark.
my name is Stephanie i am the mother of two young 3 and 5 year old girls and i think if you really think that their are so many subliminal messages then this must be the first “cartoon” that you have seen look at Billy and Mandy a ton of subliminal stuff in that one. any way i love that show and their are certain episodes that i wont let my kids watch but most are just fine. they wouldn’t understand what the clock was referencing all they would know is that it is a clock. i think you need to stop tripping and watch the cartoon and have a good laugh just like the rest of us.
p.s. who cares where the characters came from they are it gets your interest doesn’t it.
I’ll need to watch Billy and Mandy closer to find some of those more subtle jokes. It is a darn funny show.
Ma’am with all due respect If you were my mother and you told me I couldn’t watch a specific episode of a tv show as stupid as Billy and Mandy I would expect a damn well thought out explanation, because you sound like a real b**ch if you don’t mind me saying and I have honest to god pitty for your repressed children.
That was uncalled for.show some respect!
They also made reference to 4:20 in the episode “It’s Time” where upon melting clocks in a microwave they are transported in to black void with “Father Time” made of clocks. As the camara zooms into his chest you can see a single alarm clock with 420, and I believe the only digital clock
Regular Show – Number 16 Conspiracy
Episode: Do Me A Solid.
Toward the end of the episode, the scenes switch back and forth numerous times with the VCR seen behind Rigby. At first the clock reads 4:20 PM, but seconds later it reads 9:25 PM. Eventually we see Rigby reach to take a tape out of the VCR and it seems the VCR’s clock is pasted over-top of the action as Rigby’s arm goes underneath it, at which point it reads 4:20 PM. I know what you’re thinking, but wait. 4-20= -16, and 20-4=16. Also, 9-25= -16, and 9+2+5=16. Coincidence?
The times 4:20 and 9:25 are seen repeatedly throughout the show on other episodes and seem to be standard times that the artists stick on clocks. However…
Episode: It’s Time.
Rigby has two tickets for Zombie Dinner Party with “8:00″ on them. 8+8=16.
Clock on wall by computer is set to 9:02. At 9:02 the clock hands appear to be approximately 92 degrees apart, or you could just say 90+2= 92 degrees apart acute, or 268 degrees apart obtuse. 2+6+8=16.
Grandfather clock is set to 7:45. 7+4+5=16. (note: the clock chimes 3 times then the pendulum stops, I’m not sure if that means anything yet)
Rigby’s sabotaged watch reads 7:47, but Rigby claimed he had 20 minutes before his date, implying that he was reading the hands backwards.
Various other clocks appear, including one on Father Time that reads 4:20, but these clocks seem either random or set to times to match with the time line of the events of the episode (ie the countdown to Rigby’s date).
Episode: Ello Gov’nor.
Rigby puts a tape into the VCR, and the clock reads 9:25 PM. 9+2+5=16, also 9-25= -16. (As usual)
(This one’s a stretch.) Rigby pulls the tape out of the VCR at 9:02 AM. When he throws it against the wall, the same VCR clock appears to say 9:25 PM (it’s standard background time). When the scene switches back from Benson to Mordecai and Rigby standing by the TV, the same clock APPEARS (need a better quality video to make sure) to say 9:02 PM. If you convert the times to military time, 9:02 AM becomes 09:02, and 9:02 PM becomes 21:02. If you use AM as an indication to subtract, and PM as an indication to add, 09:02 becomes 9-2=7, and 21:02 becomes 21+2=23. 23-7=16, and 7-23= -16.
Does it mean anything? Probably not. Is it intentional? Maybe. Am I procrastinating? Whoa yeah.
That’s just incredible. Well done.
What is the possible significance of 16?
That’s crackers Jack!
I did notice something quite funny though, on meat your maker, when Rigby discovers the hot dog box, (he turns to look at Mordecai lying down), the camera angle pans back and the sausage illustration on the box makes Rigby look like he’s got a boner!
Follow-up: 2 In The AM PM
If you convert 2am and 2pm to military time, they come out to 02:00 and 14:00. 2+14=16
Follow-up: Ello Gov-nor
On the film’s title screen the date given in roman numerals is MCMLXXXII, or 1982. 2-8-9-1= -16.
I’m sorry but please, get a life! If parentsd don’t won’t thier kids to watch it, then they sould make them stop. Honestly all the sexual refernces in spongebob makes Regular Show babish compared to Spongebib
My parents made me watch shows about spelling and grammar.
JK! I watch those shows of my own volition.
Spogebob sex refrences? Please elaborate because that’s just propostorus
Uh… Don’t mean to offend, but you put “Spongebib”.
…
@~@
elbacko, that other one who makes stupid comments that take up too much space to point out the obvious.
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lol your fucking retarded. They’re just that, t.v. shows. so what, the writers made amazing shows with great humor that caters to many many people. Drugs are a good source for inside jokes and normal jokes alike.
And adventure time does not make fun of nuclear war. The world is just post apocalyptic. Get a life that isnt your clearly terrible excuse for a fulfilling blog. moron.
I’m pretty sure it isn’t an accident–I first noticed 4:20 in the episode where Mordecai melts clocks and ends up in an alternate universe, and it’s appeared again since. In short: much like the phallus on the cover of The Little Mermaid, many viewers may miss it, but there’s no way someone puts it in without knowing.
@JackMohan Get over yourself 1982 is the year J.G. Quintel was born and he always does that in the show. He is 29 years old.
It might have been a Pulp Fiction reference, because if you look in Pulp Fiction every clock is stuck on 4:20 no matter what time in the movie it is.
The person who wrote this article fails to realize that if the kids don’t know what 420 means. Then the number is meaningless to them and that they wouldn’t even think about it again. And he won’t get fired, because if they ask him, he’s going to tell them “It’s just a time on a clock”. So what he smokes pot. He seems to be a very successful artist and producer. Now that’s the kind of publicity the herb needs. Success stories.
Umm dude 4:20 (the time) happens TWICE a day…you know 4:20 am/pm? lol
Unless of course, like the rest of the world they use a 24 hour clock, thus rendering one being 4:20 and another 16:20…..
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okay so what is he put a couple jokes in there?? none of the kids will know because their to young and if they already know about how is it doing any harm?? also the program is pg so if parents dont want their child watching it they can always stop them but this is a very hard detail to find i wouldnt have guessed that they were doing pot till i saw this page and last……..there are 3 characters in this video mordecai bensen and pops
There are a few more 420′s in regular show
For example in the episode “it’s time”, father time has two or three digital clocks on him that say 420, I whole hearted believe that everyone that works on that show is a pot head, best frigging show on tv! And has anyone noticed muscle mans eyes are always bloodshot? And he has “dark side if the moon” and “wish you were here” pink Floyd posters in his trailer both are visible in the muscle woman episode
haha. I did not notice the posters.
So what if it has references to drugs, the kids that watch it won’t notice or care! As for the posters or whatever else, J.G. probably just puts elements from his past he likes into the show.
THIS IS ALL BULL!!! So, JG Quintel made 2 in the AM PM, I’ve seen it. Note they actually DON’T TAKE WEED AND ACID, they take acid ALONE, which isn’t good either, but not as bad as BOTH. And I mean, seriously, this is completely byest. Is there a possibility that maybe they did the screen shots at different times, and forgot, and tried for a fix but ran out of time? Also, it’s not POWDERPUFF GIRLS (only an idiot says that), it’s POWERPUFF GIRLS, and it’s not even remotely similar. PPG is about 5-year-old superheros made out of sugar, spice, everything nice, and Chemical X. The humor is made for someone age 8- or so. Regular Show is about two 23 years olds working as grounds keepers at a park in the Summer. The humor is for ages 10-late 20s or so, yet I know someone in her 50s that watches and enjoys it. and Spongebob is not even similar, and it’s not even that great anyways. Saying Regular Show is a clone of SB is like saying the food Macaroni and Cheese is a rip off of the religious kids show Veggie Tales. It doesn’t even make sense. To ‘Rap it Up’, I’d like to say that you, mister, suck and nobody likes you. ITS A COINCIDENCE GET OVER IT!!! Have a nice day with your hated life. Don’t think you’ve heard the last of me. You are a turd. Don’t forget it, faggot.
Either way, it’s still a great show.
Oh goodness. How is copying and pasting a very specific time merely a coincidence? And not just any time, 4:20. Whether children pick up on the 4:20 reference is irrelevant. As adults, the makers know better. Most people know what significance 4:20 holds. Especially if they’ve been on drugs. I don’t get why some people commenting seem to be so angry about this article.
I personally adore the little stoner shout out.
If “Regular Show” is a “children’s cartoon” then we are all out of touch with reality. It’s like “Rocky and Bullwinkle”-there was so much aimed at the adults watching with their kids that it was not classifiable for any generation or age group.
I’ll be 50 this may, and I love “Regular Show”.
That’s stupid. Even if they put this as a marijuana joke, the kids won’t get it at all. This is something only the adults would be shocked over. Would a kid laugh if someone said the clock was “4:20″? No chance. I support these kind of jokes, as they are too mature for the children to understand. Why is moderate violence allowed on CN (Billy and Mandy, some scenes in Adventure Time) but not bad language, or tame jokes as these? I personally love this kinds of cartoons and would like more to come! We don’t have Adult Swim here where I live (Boohoo), so this is as far as CN can go here. Let US here also join the fun!
Also, the joke was funny as heck. This article was awesome!
Well I heard that this show was first created by two collage guys and all of the episodes where based off of the times they where high either on shrooms or weed. These two friends are portraid by Mordecai and Rigby. It makes sense if you pay attention to the story line. Mordecai is an art school drop out and Rigby didn’t even graduate High School. So these two friends showed their story to a TV producer and they ended up selling it to JG Quintel who made it into a kids show. I’m 16 and still in love with Regular Show and Adventure Time.
Really? Interesting story, wonder if it is true.
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Okay who cares about the 4:20 crap and all those pot jokes.its a great show either way! Just enjoy it
who gives a fuuucccckkkkkk!!!!! literally!! its a fuckin little kids show!!1 and how in thaaa hell are kids supposed to know the difference between times DAMN!! whoever you are you really pissed me off …
Everything is deserving of critique and analysis. Especially children’s shows.
In the episode “Gut Model,” Muscle Man, after fighting with the fry-grease monster says that it’s less important to be a rich and famous gut model than getting fried in the park with friends.
oh come on. I’m seeing people who are saying “OMGEEEE REGULAR SHOW IS BAD 4 CHILDRENZZ1111″
you’re the reason why tv sucks now. Remember when kids shows didn’t mean taking everything that contributes to a shows maturity and length and making it lack individuality or anything new whatsoever? How is tv suppose to get any better if you guys don’t let anyone do anything? god, what happened to tv? This must be what we get for technology advancing. Now every little person can maximize their bitching and complaining. Lets give arts its spunk back.
and seriously, go do some research on the psychological effects of various bits of media content. For tv, it’s made harder for a child to really get immersed into it because the child doesn’t have any role in what happens on the tv show. There’s no dophamine reward. Also, many cases that revealed increasing aggression or negative traits from various bits of media, there’s usually high neuroticism in that child from the start. Many of the tests that have been conducted to show aggression from media content, they often have had clear faults and errors that were hidden.
How are people ever going to appreciate tv like most of the older generations if you don’t let the imagination of cartoonists run wild? This is what makes kids watch shit like jersey shore and what not, because cartoons are getting so god awful they want to advance to an older group!
I happen to love this show and im in my late twenties. I also think they should stop messing around with the hidden messages because this show is full of them! On the episode “Its time” mordecai meets up with father time who happens to be a giant clock. Guess what time is posted all over him…420!
By stop messing around I mean just jump on adult swim and go all out. In deffence I watch select episodes with my six year old and he enjoys the banter but doesnt get the messages or the adult humor
I noticed that the Greenish Grim Reaper guy on this show has only one muscular arm in this show, his right arm, and his left is thin and bony. Coincidence? I think not!
Okay let me clarify, everyone who thinks that this “junk” junk is bad for the projected audience mind’s are wrong. Lay-”Z”-man’s term’s: OHEMGEE IT IZ NOT GUNNA KILL DERE LITTLE MINDZ!!!1!! ?
≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠[| |°:]≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠‡~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~‡≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠
Because they don’t get it. Then it poses no (0) significance to them, and even if they do get it, what harm is it doing?!? They already know! And to those who don’t; they are numbers.
§∞§
And for those who agree; they don’t like us, but we know who is right about this.
(by the way, if my border had not broken, you would see a “train of thought” being stopped by a broken bridge. Just saying… •÷•)
Atleast it’s not as bad as Ren and Stimpy.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and you are reading waaaay too much into a kid’s show. I like it and it’s funny, but a “in-depth” analysis of something that’s only a supposition? Uh, no.
Watch Episode 202 (It’s Time) at 9:07